Daiquiri Biography

Last updated: 05/25/2010 11:00:00 AM

Don't you get sick of band after band writing their own bios using these totally invented 3rd person "objective" personas? Going on and on about the incredible songwriting, transcendent live shows and how the whole package is just crackling with originality? Come on, guys! We KNOW it's you!

We -- Mike Hickey and Leigh Newton, the two members of DAIQUIRI -- are not going to do that.

So here it is, straight up, no hyperbole. DAIQUIRI has just released Box Office Poison, our second CD and follow up to the debut, Third World Budget. Musically, we're tough to describe, and we're often left silent or stammering when asked. (That's when we start making up ridiculous and embarrassing phrases like "spazzy synthesizer metal," "geek punk," "noise rock with drum 'n' bass electronic beats.") We think music is always more fun to listen to than describe anyway. People hear in us what they want to hear: metal fans will dig the heavy guitars, techno guys will dig the "beats," fans of comedy will dig the lyrics and energetic live show...it's all pretty diverse.

2003 was pretty good to us and 2004 will be better. Aside from recording and releasing Box Office Poison, we spent July touring the US opening for our good friends, MONG HANG, from Tokyo, Japan. The tour put us in front of a metal crowd in Indianapolis, indie hipsters in Chicago, blue-collar types in Sioux City, Iowa, illegal aliens from Japan in NYC, and art-damaged freaks in Providence, Rhode Island. The crowds were about as diverse as our music, and we tried to make sure that every one of them had a good time. If they didn't like our sounds, we would at least give them the opportunity to laugh at us. Since the tour ended we've been making the rounds back here in eastern Canada. We're heading back to the US and also Japan early next year to keep things moving forward...and to get our freak on in front of new audiences everywhere.

A little history

- DAIQUIRI started in 1999 as a 4-piece rock band, featuring members of our old band, Ottawa's Brandon Walsh. BW had appeared on The Tom Green Show three times (our style perfectly matched the tone of the show so they kept inviting us back), where we became good friends with Tom's sidekick, Glenn Humplik. Glenn had been a BW fan and became our first guitarist when we formed DAIQUIRI. We did two short US tours and plenty of local drunk-fests with Glenn.

- Glenn's stint on MTV brought the band loads of exposure in the US. Within a week, 10,000 people had downloaded our two-song demo. We headed to the studio to record our first CD, Third World Budget. By the time the CD was pressed, Glenn had moved to L.A. to pursue MTV stardom full time. He remains a part-time member of the band.

- Following Glenn's departure, DAIQUIRI pounded ahead with various replacements.
We eventually decided on a two-piece and it was the best move we could have made. DAIQUIRI has toured with some hugely popular underground heroes -- like Neil Hamburger, Faxed Head, Estradasphere, Tub Ring -- and played one-off shows with artists like Quintron, Testament, Bobby Conn, Andrew WK, and others too numerous to mention.

- DAIQUIRI draws influences from hugely diverse sources. Mainstream R&B group Destiny's Child is as influential as Aphex Twin, 80's pop cheese, forgotten new wave, speed metal and novelty bands. All inspiring. Then there's Beach Boys, Missy Elliot, and Devo -- we've covered them all, then listened to their CDs on the road, wondering how to set the timer on the VCR (we're still not quite sure)

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